Thanks Miss Sherry,

I'll look into that and see if it's okay for my zone. Butterfly bush seems not to tempt the deer so always a good choice.

I have to move the wild butterfly weed out of one of my beds so I'm trying to compensate by planting more things they like elsewhere. Of course I will always keep some wild for the Monarchs :-)

Here's a picture I made earlier this year of a pipevine swallowtail nectaring on the 'Orange Septre' - I looked it up, and it was made on March 16, 2016.

Sherry

I have a pretty Halesia tetraptera, the Silverbell tree, in the backyard. It blooms very early in the spring....so early that I always worry about freeze damage.

I call this plant my bee tree because when in full bloom it is alive with hundreds of bees. And butterflies! Mostly tiger swallowtails.

That's the only thing I have blooming in my yard at that time, but the pollinators sure show up the second I put my annuals in the ground, after the last frost date.

I have a good bit of Thyme in my garden that always blooms early and attracts a wide variety of pollinators, including the earliest butterflies. Mostly skippers, but they are the earliest around here, I think.

I'm in zone 5, too. Asters and Echinacea will grow well for you and come back. The butterflies that I've seen so far this summer have liked the Shasta Daisies which would add color to your beds. My Sweet William was also a big draw for the butterflies and that blooms early and I get a rich assortment of pinks, whites and reds and they are long-lasting blooms which return. I have two kinds of Allium (ornamental garlic). It's deer resistant (they don't want garlic breath). My Sensation blooms in the spring and my Nigrum (white) blooms in the fall.

I forgot all about zinnias and Mexican sunflowers. They're annuals, but I've started Mexican sunflowers again this year for me and my mother. Walmart is selling 9-packs of already started zinnias, so I bought a pack and will be planting them today sometime after it's cooler. Mexican sunflowers won't thrive without a lot of heat, so I don't start them until around May, but once they come up, they grow fast and make blooming machines. Zinnias, as I recall, are the same way, but I haven't tried growing any in years. Both these are very popular with butterflies and bloom continually, until late fall.

And good old lantana is among the most popular butterfly nectar plants that blooms until late in the season. I have one that I've had for at least 10 years, Sonset, a sport of the old hardy ham & eggs lantana - part of the big plant has reverted back to pink and yellow/ham & eggs, but most of it is still multi-colored.

Sherry

P.S. Only zinnias with the open middle area are used by butterflies. The ones that look like mums aren't used.